Minnesota wants more oversight from charter school authorizers

Charlene Briner, chief of staff in the Minnesota Department of Education, said she expects some pushback over new guidelines for charter school authorizers. (Photo courtesy Minnesota Department of Education)

Minnesota is telling the overseer of a St. Paul charter school a plan to address serious missteps there falls short.

A recent investigation at the Community School of Excellence documented problems in collecting federal meal funds and reporting suspected child abuse. Last month, Concordia University, the school's authorizer, highlighted steps the school is taking to fix the issues -- even as it acknowledged some do not seem to go far enough.

The state Department of Education told St. Paul-based Concordia this week its response doesn't cut it.

In recent years, the state has stepped in occasionally to demand more vigilance from authorizers -- colleges, school districts and nonprofits that oversee charters, which are independently run public schools. Exchanges like the one with Concordia have picked up as Minnesota rolled out a 2009 charter law that spells out a much more active oversight role for authorizers.

Charter advocates generally have hailed the new law's focus on accountability. But some disagreement remains over just how much authority authorizers have to drive changes at the schools they monitor.

"This has been an interesting couple of years," said Charlene Briner, the education department's chief of staff. "We really are moving to Charters 2.0, where they are part of a high-quality system of innovation."

The issue likely will come to a head when the state begins evaluating its authorizers under the new law next year. The Department of Education releases guidelines about how it will size up authorizers Friday, and Briner said it expects some push-back.

The state charter association stresses the law requires authorizers to push school leaders to solve problems. The association questions if in cases such as the recent Concordia letter, the state is expecting authorizers to do the solving themselves.

In an email, Lonn Maly, Concordia's vice president for academic affairs, said university officials will discuss a response to the state next week. Community School of Excellence school board Chair Patti Hessling said the board and administration are "bringing effective and efficient organizational change to our school."

Last year, the state called for an investigation at the school after receiving complaints from current and former employees. A local attorney enlisted by the school board dismissed some allegations but validated others. The school serves 960 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, most of them Hmong.

The attorney found the school continued to collect subsidized meal dollars for breakfasts and lunches students did not consume -- despite a 2012 penalty imposed by the state for similar violations. The investigation also charged that founder and Superintendent Mo Chang continued to discourage employees from reporting suspected child abuse to authorities as required by law -- despite a change in the school's policy that the state had demanded.

The report said Chang cultivated "a culture of fear" at the school, where employees were loath to disagree with her.

Based on the findings, the school board crafted an improvement plan for Chang, which the state provided to the Pioneer Press. It calls on Chang to line up food service training for staff and parent information sessions on abuse reporting requirements. The board stripped Chang of direct oversight over the school's nutrition program and urged her to avoid micromanaging employees.

In its letter to the state, Concordia said efforts to resolve issues at the school are well underway, and it would monitor them closely.

Maly did say the university has concerns, including that Chang's improvement plan does not adequately address complaints about her management style. He said reports that more staffer resignations have added to the school's high employee turnover recently are "very disconcerting." In addition, the report cites allegations that Chang shared with parents the identity of a teacher who reported suspicions of abuse -- a possible misdemeanor under state law.

But overall, Maly concluded, "Concordia University is holding the board accountable for the operations of the school."

In a response, the education department countered that Concordia needs to spell out step-by-step plans to address each issue and prevent relapses.

Briner said the department has stepped in repeatedly and urged authorizers to strengthen their oversight since the new law went into effect.

"The expectations are greater, and it's hard work," she said. "We've had some authorizers really welcome this increased accountability."

In 2010, many charter overseers pulled out, saying new requirements to monitor finances and achievement closely were too time-consuming. The number of authorizers shrank from about 45 that year to 27 now.

Eugene Piccolo, the executive director of the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools, said authorizers have kept a much closer eye on how charters run -- an offshoot of the law the association welcomes. But he said the state's letter to Concordia is asking too much.

"The Department of Education does not understand the role of authorizers," Piccolo said. "It's not their job to fix problems. It's to make sure the school board and administration are fixing the problems."

Piccolo noted the department has more recourse to ensure compliance, including by imposing financial penalties. Concordia, on the other hand, has the "nuclear weapon" of withdrawing the school's charter, essentially putting it out of business.

Briner said the department has never communicated an expectation that authorizers solve the problems at charters they oversee. But it has pushed them to be more forceful in demanding solutions, she said. The department has not ruled out additional action in the Community School of Excellence case.

Briner said there has been push and pull with authorizers in drawing the line between oversight and troubleshooting: "It's a tension we feel all the time in finding that sweet spot."